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Froggie Beaver - From The Pond CD (album) cover

FROM THE POND

Froggie Beaver

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.09 | 15 ratings

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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
3 stars It's easy to forget that although the greatest examples of progressive rock were taking place in Europe in the early 70s, that even as early as 1970 this style of music was catching on in the least expected places. One of the cities you would never expect is in the heartland city of Omaha, Nebraska where this prog band FROGGIE BEAVER hopped FROM THE POND in 1971 and onto its one and only album that appeared two years later. This band consisted of John Troia (vocals), Ed Staszko (keyboards), John Fischer (guitar) and Rick Brown (drums), all of whom were smitten with the dreamy pop atmospheric stylistic approach of The Moody Blues along with a few Keith Emerson keyboard antics and spaced out acoustic guitar strumming sessions in the vein of Pink Floyd.

This all but forgotten band that only had a brief moment out of its amphibious hideaway has only been resurrected by its inclusion in a Record Collector Dreams book by Austrian author and collector Hans Pokora. Having emerged from the extreme outback in terms of the prog rock world, it's no wonder that FROGGIE BEAVER took on a more commercial approach that crafted top 40 radio friendly tunes with some FROGGIE proggy extras. The band was somewhat of a local sensation as these guys played at clubs and malls and by 1973 had amassed enough original material to record an album but due to indifference in the local music scene the band members had to save up enough cash in order to record and release their dream works independently and so FROM THE POND was released on the FROGGIE BEAVER label.

For hardcore prog lovers this will not get the juices flowing as this is a slow trodding dreamy pop album fortified with loads of atmospheric keyboards with a touch of ELP styled keyboard outbursts from time to time. Guitars are mostly set to acoustic or clean all set to catchy pop melodic constructs that capture a somewhat detached modus operendi save the opening track (not including the intro) "Lovely Lady" which sounds somewhat like a proto-Styx type of album without the vocal prowess of Dennis DeYoung but although vocalist John Troia may not have had such an operatic range, his style of singing perfectly suits this early form of dream pop. Even though most tracks are fairly straight-on acoustic rock ballads with fairly lukewarm references to anything remotely prog, there are occasions where the compositions are allowed to hop into a more dynamic developments.

Generally speaking the strongest tracks are in the forefront and FROM THE POND slowly descends into more tranquilized space rock with each subsequent track losing a little luster until the FROGGIE BEAVER returns FROM THE POND it emerged never to be heard from again. This is certainly an interesting album and not a bad listen in the least but i hardly thing FROGGIE BEAVER will ever be considered anything other than a notable relic from a place in the world not even remotely associated with prog rock in the early 70s. This is a very crossover album with the line more on the pop side of the equation much like bands the AOR / prog bands like Ambrosia to come. The album has seen reissues with five extra dream pop rock tracks so if you really love this and can't get enough there's still more to be had! Some of the bonus tracks are better than the actual album as they rock! Personally i think this sounds a bit like 10CC at its poppies moments only the hooks aren't quite as catchy or well developed.

siLLy puPPy | 3/5 |

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